PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT: TEN KEYS TO SUCCESS

BLOWING THE WHISTLE

Federal and state laws encourage employees to notify government or law enforcement when they believe that their employer is breaking a statute or regulation. Companies that violate these statutes face hefty fines, as well as wrongful-discharge claims. To help protect yourself, we recommend these guidelines:

1. Be clear about the type of ethical/legal issues that come up in your business. For example, if you're running a nursing home, patient care would be the most likely source of concern.
2. Define your ethics policy, put it in writing, and plaster it on a wall somewhere. (A sample is on the HR That Works! web site)
3. Let workers and managers know that employees and executives who flout these guidelines will be disciplined quickly and severely, if not immediately terminated.
4. Train managers on how to handle corporate pressures and the possibility of malfeasance.
5. Educate employees and offer them a safe place to go to with concerns.
6. Distribute a Disclosure Statement that asks employees if they've witnessed unethical conduct. This is an important step, since few employees will volunteer this information. (A sample is on the HR That Works! web site)
7. If a problem arises, deal with it immediately and properly. Realize that your actions could end up on the front page or in a courtroom. Whatever you do, resist the human tendency to ignore, bury, or deny the situation.

For more information on maintaining your corporate integrity, visit the Ethics Resource Center at http://www.ethics.org/ or the Michael Josephson Institute at www.josephsoninstitute.org.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FILING REQUIREMENTS

If your business is approaching 100 employees, or if you're contracting with the federal government, its time to become familiar with Equal Employment Opportunity filing requirements. To find the information that you need, visit these sites:

• Regulations: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/29cfr1602_03.html
• Electronic Filing: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeo1survey/index.html
• Instruction Booklet: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeo1survey/e1instruct.html

EMPLOYMENT REFERENCES:
BEYOND NAME, RANK, AND SERIAL NUMBER

Although criminal background checks and credit reports have an important place in hiring, they don't protect you from hiring someone who has no criminal history or financial problems, but is simply a poor performer. Many firms provide only name, rank, and serial number on employee references, with no comments about qualifications or performance, to avoid being sued for defamation.

However, in the past few years, 38 states have adopted laws that afford employers substantial protection in these situations. When you need to get or give a reference, you can cite these laws to encourage open dialogue and help prevent you from hiring a lazy, incompetent, dishonest, or counterproductive employee — or even a dangerous one who could harm a third party and trigger a negligent-hiring suit against your organization.

Protect your rights by including, in your employment application or in a separate document, a release that the applicant must sign that acknowledges a previous employer's right (and your right, at any time) to discuss their job performance, reasons for separation, and whatever else state law allows. Cite the law. Faxing a copy of the signed release to previous employers might make the difference in your ability to have a candid conversation with them. A sample form is available on the HR That Works! site.

“The truth does not emerge from opinions.”

David Bohm,
Physicist and Philosopher

This issue discusses:

We’ve also provided hyperlinks to a free Form of the Month.

YOUR OPINION COUNTS

Company after company conducts employee opinion surveys to find the magic bullet that will ignite their workforce.

The usual method of asking for opinions in a one-to-five format and allowing employee anonymity seldom gets results. Why should it? First of all, one-to-five thinking doesn't provide the background behind employees' thoughts. For example, if you ask what they think of your benefits program and they give it a low grade, this might be because their last employer had a ridiculously expensive program.

It's better to get information that you can use immediately.

Rather than using the one-to-five format, we suggest that you ask three questions over a wide variety of subject areas:

• What's going right?
• What can go better (not, "What don't you like")?
• What else would you like to share?

Opinion surveys are anonymous because of management concern that employees might fear speaking up. It would be better if both parties cut past the fear and began an honest, above-the-table discussion. Lack of anonymity also allows you to follow up with the specific concerns of individual employees.

Don't expect all employees to jump into this approach with both feet. Some will just dabble in the water and see if anyone else gets their head lopped off. However, once they find management making a sincere effort, eventually they'll jump in with both feet.

You can either focus surveys on individual subjects at monthly meetings (i.e. survey benefits this month, training in the next month, the working environment in the following month, etc.), or you can do it all at once. Above all, acknowledge that you've heard the employees and then set priorities, letting them know that you'll commit to no more than three new strategies at a time. If you over-commit, and fail to live up to even a trivial commitment, your employees will be quick to play victim games.

LEGAL ALERT

Our new partner, Epstein, Becker and Green sponsors this valuable information.

(PDF)

FORM OF THE MONTH:

DECLARATION OF NO INJURIES
(in Spanish)
(PDF) (Word)

As you might know, we have translated our most critical employee forms into certified legal Spanish. Here's one that you can use at the end of a pay period or project to help avoid the filing of frivolous or latent Workers Comp claims.

The information presented here is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Due to local and state laws and ordinances, an individual article might not apply in every jurisdiction.